A serious Wi-Fi vulnerability has been discovered in the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standard, allowing hackers to exploit it to infiltrate and spy on users’ networks. This vulnerability, known as ‘SSID Confusion’ (tracked with the code CVE-2023-52424), affects all operating systems and Wi-Fi devices, regardless of home or mesh networks, and can compromise any WEP, WPA3, 802.11X/EAP, or AMPE protocol.
Attackers can take advantage of this vulnerability to impersonate a trusted Wi-Fi network name (SSID) and deceive the user’s device into connecting to a malicious Wi-Fi network instead of the legitimate SSID. This enables hackers to secretly monitor network traffic and steal sensitive information, including passwords, bank accounts, and emails.
The ‘SSID Confusion’ vulnerability exploits the fact that the SSID is not always authenticated, and security measures are only activated when the device requests to join a specific network. To carry out this attack, the hacker needs to be within close range of the victim’s network to perform an Attack-in-the-Middle attack.
To protect against SSID Confusion attacks, users are advised to update their devices to the latest Wi-Fi version (802.11) and use strong passwords for their Wi-Fi networks. Furthermore, caution should be exercised when connecting to public Wi-Fi networks, and users should only access websites that utilize HTTPS connections.